Garland zeroes in on Safari

Holden Jackaroo driver Bruce Garland started Friday's final full day of competition in the Australian Safari Rally with an extended lead over the Nissan Patrol of his rival John Hederics.

26 August 1999Bob Jennings

Holden Jackaroo driver Bruce Garland started Friday's final full day of competition in the Australian Safari Rally with an extended lead over the Nissan Patrol of his rival John Hederics.

Garland was holding a comfortable lead of 17 minutes after yesterday's gruelling stage across the Tanami Desert to the small Northern Territory Aboriginal township of Kalkaringi.

The competitors also tackled the longest stage of the event, over a 350km route through heavy sand and many under-estimated the fuel consumption of their vehicles, and others encountered overheating problems.

Victorian Des Harrington is holding third place in his Nissan Patrol ute, but he is almost two hours behind the leaders.

TV host Glenn Ridge is holding 12th place outright and is leading the series production class in another Nissan Patrol.

The mother and daughter team of Penny and Valerie Swan rolled their Suzuki Grand Vitara yesterday, but completed the stage still ahead of South Australian Vitara driver Bill Monkhouse.

As the field set out on Friday facing stages of 125km, 72km and 78km, Alice Springs rider Steven Greenfield held a massive lead in the motorcycle division on his Honda. He had a one and a half hour margin over second-placed Tim Scriven of Victoria, while Steven Riley had moved up to third place, only two minutes behind Scriven.

On Wednesday, KTM rider Andy Caldecott, who had been leading the motorcycle section for the previous three days, crashed and dislocated his shoulder. He was taken to Alice Springs for treatment.

Caldecott had taken the lead from fellow South Australian and fellow KTM rider Andy Haydon, who dropped out of contention when he had to change an engine in his bike early in the event.

An overnight stop was due in Katherine on Friday night before the finish in Alice Springs on Saturday.

The Safari started in Alice Springs last Saturday, and will take the competitors over a 5,000km route.

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